Figures released to the Otago Daily Times show Work and Income has awarded $44.6 million in job placement grants, $7.36 million in job search grants and $19.1 million in bridging finance since April 2007.
Introduced in April 2007, the Transition to Work grants were used for "essential costs for people searching for, or starting, work", Work and Income chief executive Mike Smith said.
Items covered by the grant included child care, transport, clothing, relocation costs and even tattoo removal, but grants could not exceed $1500 over a year for any applicant.
Bridging-finance payments were also available to support people whose benefit payment had stopped but who were yet to receive their first pay.
The non-taxable, non-recoverable grants were paid to clients or their partners and provided "flexible financial assistance to enable them to enter employment".
Asked why grants were non-recoverable, Mr Smith said: "Transition to Work was designed to provide an incentive for people to move into work."
Given a person could receive several grants - such as a job search grant and then a job placement grant - the department was unable to provide an exact figure on how many jobs were gained from the scheme.
However, since July, 6999 people in Work and Income's Southern Region had cancelled their benefit after finding work.
"We know Transition to Work assistance has helped many people get into those jobs," Mr Smith said.
Over the past four years, more than $53.9 million in Transition to Work grants has been paid to beneficiaries in the Southern Region. Those grants include $3.339 million (15,381 successful applications) for job placement costs, $630,574 (6251) for job search costs and $1,419,797 (4257) for bridging finance.
Mr Smith said grants were affected by policies, operation practices, and labour market and GDP forecasts, and the current forecast was "budget-sensitive". While the average grant remained between $190 and $200, an increased number of job-seekers had led to more grants over the past year and a-half.
